...in the outer...: Losing my mind?

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Ethics: The Heart of Leadership
Edited by Joanne Ciulla. An important collection of essays by philosophers, leadership and management thinkers considering the role of ethics in leadership

Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness
By Robert K. Greenleaf, Larry C. Spears, Stephen R. Covey. Servant and leader--can these two roles be fused in one real person in all levels of status and calling?

Warranted Christian Belief
By Alvin Plantinga. Third in a trilogy of works on the issue of warrant - the basis of the rationality of Christian beliefs written by arguably the most important philosopher of religion alive today

Renovation of the Heart
By Dallas Willard. A philosopher and quintessential Christian teacher relates and reflects on what it means to put on the character of Christ.

Foreign Bodies
By Hwee Hwee Tan. An impressive first novel by young new author from Singapore acclaimed as an up and coming Pulitzer Prize winner

Mammon Inc.
By Hwee-Hwee Tan. Second novel by this very important young new author from Singapore applauded the world over, including The Times in London and the New York Times

Three Philosophies of Life
By Peter Kreeft. Three life philosophies presented through the works of three of Scriptures most beautiful poetry books, Job, Ecclesiastes and Songs of Solomon

Horrendous Evil and the Goodness of God
By Marilyn McCord-Adams. A seminal response to the age-old problem of evil which attempts to take seriously the theological ramifications of the character of God

Blink
By Malcolm Gladwell. Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant.

Smart Mobs
By Howard Rheingold. A social commentary about how "sophisticated mobile Internet access is allowing people who don't know each other to act in concert".

Linked
By Albert-Laszlo Barabasi. An engaging treatise about the fundamentals of interconnectedness and complexity that underlies neurology, epidemiology, Internet traffic, and many other fields.

The Peaceable Kingdom
By Stanley Hauerwas. A clear explication of a Christian ethic based upon the meaning of the gospel, highlighting virtues and character, and narrative as a mode of ethical reflection.

The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel & Kingdom, Gospel & Wisdom, Gospel & Revelation
By Graeme Goldsworthy. A collection of masterful works expositing on the centrality of the Scriptures: the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Grace and Law: St. Paul, Kant, and the Hebrew Prophets
By Heinz Cassirer. A Kantian scholar looks at the Old Testament Law, and Paul's understanding of it, concluding that Kant's delimma is answered by the gospel of grace.

The Un-Right Christians

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Friday, October 08, 2004

I went with my wife to the store last night. We decided to take Elvis, our precocious little Shitzu, along. Elvis really belongs to No. 1 daughter (who doesn't live with us - but is moving back home soon), but we have him almost full time at home and he really loves my wife. Anyway, my wife headed towards the store, while I went over to the bank next door to the ATM.

I had Elvis with me. He was struggling to follow my wife to the store, and I had to pull him towards the ATM. I deposited a few checks, all the time trying to restraint Elvis. He is still an untrained, spoilt puppy so he doesn't listen to me except when he knows I have treats for him, and so continued to pull away. After I deposited the checks, I checked the receipt, and then pushed the button for another transaction. I then took out some cash. Elvis tugged on the leash some more. When the cash came out of the slot, I took it counted them and took the receipt. Checked my balance and proceeded to go and put the cash in my wallet as I went. Elvis was happy to be trotting towards "Mommy". I let him walk around outside the store, and then pulled him back towards the car. I opened the car door and Elvis jumped in. I wound down the windows a little and then closed the door behind me.

Poor Elvis.

He looked at me pitifully through the window as I walked back into the store to help my wife with the shopping. We spent a while at the store, as we needed to be careful to pick out items that my wife had coupons for. It was quite a while before we were done. When we were ready, my wife informed me that she forgot to bring out her credit card. I opened my wallet and proceeded to pay for the groceries.

As I did so, I noticed something wierd. One of the slots was empty. I usually have four cards in my wallet. There were only three. I looked at it again, and then I realized what was missing was my ATM card. My ATM card. My ATM card. What happened? I checked all my pockets - there were only two actually. Checked them again and again. Don't panic. Think. To my horror, I realized what happened. I must have walked away after fishing the cash out of the machine while it was prompting me for "Do you wish to make another transaction?" I didn't even hear the machine beep at me... or maybe it didn't beep...

I remember walking past some people when I left the ATM, and also walking past a few cars at the parking lot. Cold sweat was breaking out. We took the groceries and rushed out quickly and headed towards the ATM. No sign of the card anywhere. I took a deep breath. I was thinking "Oh, no!" I imagined the worst. Perhaps someone is now out for a shopping spree right that moment. Using my card! The thing was, I was quite calm, considering. I was freaking out inside, but I wasn't showing it too much. The wild imaginations were flittering in and out of my mind. In between I was taking deep breaths. I used to really freak out and I would have blamed myself and call myself all sorts of nasty names. I wonder if it is the Lexapro that is working, or it is the therapy and I am recovering, or a little of both.

I went home and empty out my entire wallet. Nope. No ATM card. I reached for the phone and dialed up the bank's webpage. I dialed the 1-800 number. But they don't do twenty-four seven. And, there were no answering service. I went online and sent off an SOS e-mail from the "Contact Us" page. In the meantime, I checked my accounts and did not find anything amiss.

Maybe I should transfer the entire balance to my PayPal account.

For some reason, I did not panic and was quite calm. I was even able to sleep like a baby last night. This morning, my e-mail probably made a customer service staff's day.

Anyways, a phone call this morning to the local branch and the clerk found the card still in the machine. Could I come by tomorrow and pick it up?

By the afternoon, though, I received an e-mail from customer service.

Your card has been canceled and you will be sent a new card.

Hooray! I have a new nominee for financial services customer service of the year!

That is the good news part.

The other part I am not too sure about...

Am I losing my mind? Is it the Lexapro that has caused me to be so forgetful? Or is it just that I am now easily distracted? Or is it old age... Or, perhaps I can blame it on Elvis... heheh...